New Delhi: The Supreme Court here on Thursday ordered that the names of individuals removed from the draft electoral rolls prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Kerala must be made public at government offices and uploaded on the official website. The Court also asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider extending the deadline for raising objections to such deletions.

A bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the SIR process in Kerala.

During the previous hearing, the ECI had informed the Court that the original deadline for submitting enumeration forms—December 4—was first extended to December 11 and, following the Court’s directions, further extended to December 18.

At today’s hearing, counsel for the petitioners stated that the draft rolls show that around 24 lakh names have been removed.

"They have to list objections, but the list of those persons deleted is not available. Now people have to go back and file objections stating why have you deleted me, that opportunity is missing for us,” they argued.

While counsel appearing for the ECI argued that the earlier direction to publicly display the draft rolls had already been complied with, the bench nonetheless proceeded to issue further directions:

"Meanwhile, the persons who have been excluded from the draft electoral list, if not already displayed, will display on the offices of the grampanchayat or any other public office located in the villages and display such list on the website."

The petitioners’ counsel also highlighted that the draft rolls categorise some individuals as deceased and others as having migrated out of the state.

The Court additionally suggested that the ECI examine the possibility of extending the deadline for filing objections, a proposal to which the ECI’s counsel agreed.

Taking these concerns into account, the bench further observed: " Meanwhile, having regard to the difficulty being experienced by the people at large, the ECI may consider the desirability of extending the date."
(With Live Law inputs)

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